Increasingly, certain dry materials are shipped in flexible bulk containers to end-users. Certain of these dry goods are hydrated (or dissolved) prior to use by the end user. To achieve the hydration of the dry goods by the end user, the end user first opens and empties a number of the containers into a mixing vat prior to hydration or dissolution. Once dissolved, the end mixture is drained from the vat for use. Flexible containers can only partially tolerate the pressure that may be generated during dissolution of a viscous or solid material within the container.
Among other drawbacks, the emptying and mixing procedures are costly, time consuming and tedious. Specifically, the containers are relatively small thus a great number of containers must be shipped, opened and emptied by the end user. Furthermore, inasmuch as the chemicals carried by the bulk containers are often hazardous, a danger to operators occurs every time the material is moved from container to a second container (i.e., vat). Additionally, the disposal of the used containers contaminated with hazardous dry goods has become increasingly regulated, costly and difficult.
Certain solutions have been developed to limit the handling of the dry material by the end user. One such system, developed by E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Wilmington, Del., and marketed under the trademark Excel II, utilizes a highly specialized tanker truck to carry the dry material and as a mixing chamber for mixing the dry material with liquid such as water. The tanker truck is adapted to include a series of jets, which are capable of spraying liquid within the tanker at the dry material. Once the dry material is dissolved, the tanker is emptied and cleaned.
While such a solution has been quite advantageous for certain situations, there are nevertheless drawbacks. One problem has been that once emptied, the taker must be returned in an empty condition to the dispenser of the dry material. Furthermore, the specialized tanker trucks are not suitable for transport by rail or by ship. As such, the use of the system is confined to a region, which is reachable, by tanker truck using roads. Further still, the tanker trucks outfitted with the highly specialized equipment for receiving liquid and dissolving the dry material are expensive to manufacture and maintain.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have a flexible bulk container which is capable of transporting dry or viscous material and also capable of receiving a fluid for dissolving, reducing the density, or reducing the viscosity of the material within the container for eventual use thereof. It is also desirable to have a bulk transport system which utilizes a collapsible and reusable flexible bulk container as a liner assembly housed within an outer container that is transportable in a number of different manners. The present invention provides such a transport system.